There have been many proposals in the past for a lightweight contemporary monolithic wall system to replace conventional masonry walls. Lightweight walling systems provide significant advantages over the prior art particularly the reduction in load placed on foundations.
This has proved particularly difficult for external walling systems which require equivalent durability and load bearing capacity to conventional masonry. The lightweight systems must also be highly resistant to damage from impact, thermally and acoustically efficient and suitable for application of different decorative finishes.
Traditional systems also require skilled labour. Many replacement systems strive to be quicker, simpler and less expensive to install and less dependent on skilled labour.
Off-site construction can produce lightweight wall or floor panels for subsequent installation on-site. Transportation costs with such systems, however, are significant. In situ building systems are preferred for various reasons. Transportation costs are reduced and the in situ systems are also more flexible in the type of wall or floor which can be constructed. The systems also allow services to be installed in the wall during construction rather than subsequent installation.
Such in situ construction of lightweight walls, for example, began with the so-called “dry wall system”. This was a sandwich wall comprised of timber or steel framing with thin sheeting of gypsum or fibre reinforced cement attached thereto. The wall cavity remained hollow. The system was limited to internal partitioning, however, due to its very low load bearing capacity, lack of durability and low mass.
The applicant has previously proposed a system for constructing a wall in which a lightweight aggregate concrete slurry is pumped into the void formed between two fibre cement sheets supported on a frame. This system essentially requires the entire wall to be filled with the concrete slurry. cementitious material. Additionally, since the cavity is essentially filled with a monolithic cementitious block, water cannot escape from inside the cavity wall.
The cost of lightweight aggregate is also quite high and in many cases is difficult to mix with a cementitious binder to provide a homogeneous mixture.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome or ameliorate at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art, or to provide a useful alternative.